


If I Tell You

by Khylara



Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: M/M, Peterick, Post-Hiatus (Fall Out Boy)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:08:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22672312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khylara/pseuds/Khylara
Summary: Pete has a secret. Does Patrick really want to hear it?
Relationships: Patrick Stump/Pete Wentz
Kudos: 15





	If I Tell You

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the Sade song, which is another Peterick anthem if I ever heard one.

Pete watched as Patrick picked out a melody on his guitar, his heart pounding hard in his chest. _Beautiful,_ he found himself thinking to his complete surprise. Where had that thought come from out of the blue?

 _Be honest with yourself, Wentz,_ he told himself ruthlessly. _You always thought he was even when you were a know it all tewnty one year old and he was just sixteen and jailbait._ Now though...now that Patrick was secure and happy, now he was absolutely breathtaking.

 _I love him,_ he realized with a start. _I've been in love with him from the beginning._ He neatly dropped his guitar from the shock.

The other three members of Fall Out Boy stopped and stared at him. "You okay, man?" Joe asked, concerned.

Pete forced himself to nod. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Let's do this." He began to play, one thought foremost in his mind. 

What would Patrick do if he knew?

*****

"Are you sure you're okay?" Patrick asked as everyone was packing up to go. "You seem a little off."

"I'm fine, Pattycakes," Pete forced himself to say as he packed up his bass. "Just thinking too much about the tour and everything. You know?"

Patrick nodded. "We'll be ready on time," he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "If we don't know some of these songs by now..."

 _That wasn't what I was thinking about at all,_ Pete thought sadly, knowing all too well what Patrick would do if he ever found out how he felt. _You'll hate me. You'll despise me and curse my name and never want to see me again. And I couldn't...I couldn't go through that again._

Patrick gave him a closer look. "Pete?" he asked again, his voice soft. "What is it?"

Pete shook his head and plastered on a smile. "Nothing, Lunchbox," he lied. "I'm fine."

*****

The next day, things were even worse, mainly because Pete had gotten very little sleep the night before and Patrick had chosen to wear the tightest fitting jeans the bassist had ever seen. _Where on earth did he get those?_ he thought for what had to be the seventy-third time inside of an hour. _And how come I didn't notice how good he looked in them before this?_

"Pete!" Andy called, sounding more than a little annoyed "If you have something more important you'd rather be doing, we can practice without you."

Pete winced. "Sorry." He began playing again as they picked up where they left off.

 _I have to tell you,_ he realized, his heart sinking as he looked at his bandmate. Y _ou should know how I feel, even if it means losing you for good. And I need to tell you before I drive myself and everyone else crazy._ He couldn't keep such a secret from his best friend, not for very long.

He continued to play, his heart aching, knowing that it was only a matter of time before he lost Patrck for good. _Make it count,_ he thought as he watched. _Make it all count. It's all you'll ever have._

_*****_

"What is it with you?" Patrick asked as he put his guitar back in it's case some time later. "You've been acting weird all day." He held up his hand to stop Pete before he started. "And don't tell me you're fine. I know you're not."

Pete sighed. _Now or never,_ he thought, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. At least Joe and Andy weren't here to witness his utter humiliation at the hands of their singer. "There's something I need to tell you," he said hesitantly.

"Okay." Patrick put his case down. "It sounds serious."

"It is." Pete gestured to the worn couch in the corner. "Maybe you'd better sit down."

Patrick did as he was asked. "So what is it?"

Pete sat down next to him, trying not to be distracted by how good Patrick looked. "How long have we been friends?" he found himself asking.

"Quite awhile," Patrick answered with a smile. "At this point, I think I know you better than I know my own brother." He put a hand on Pete's knee. "So I know when there's something wrong with you."

"You know me too well," Pete remarked with a wan smile. He put his hand over Patrick's. "There's something you should know about me."

"Okay," Patrick said again. Seeing the look on Pete's face, a worried frown crossed his. "Pete...whatever it is...it can't be that serious."

"It is." Pete looked down at their joined hands and on an impulse twined their fingers together. "I just don't want you hating me when I'm done."

Patrick smiled. "That will never happen. No matter what you tell me." he paused. "Just say it, Pete. Say it and we'll deal with it."

Pete looked again at their joined hands. _He's my best friend. My other half,_ he realized finally. _Maybe he'll understand._ "I love you," he said, blurting it our.

To his surprise, Patrick gave im a kind smile. "I know you do. I love you, too."

 _He doesn't understand,_ Pete thought, his heart falling to somewhere around his shoes. _How can I make him understand?_ "No. I mean...I...I love you." With that, he pulled Patrick into a kiss.

It barely counted as a kiss if you thought about it at all, Pete mused as he brushed his lips against Patrick's. When he drew away, he saw the shocked look on the singer's face and knew that he had made the biggest mistake of his life. "Patrick..."

Just as quickly Patrick grinned and cupped his face in his hands. "It's about fucking time," he said to Pete's utter shock. "I love you, too." He then pulled Pete into a hungry kiss that left no doubt as to his own feelings.

 _He loves me,_ Pete said to himself over and over again in his head. Nothing else existed, nothing else mattered. He just relaxed in Patrick's arms, trusted his heart and lost himself in that one perfect kiss.

 _The first of many,_ Pete found himself hoping and when he drew away enough to see the truth in Patrick's eyes, he knew that hope would become fact soon enough.


End file.
